While my CT has a friendly rapport with students during passing time and homeroom, she has a very business-like demeanor during class time. Staying on task and following her scheduled lesson plans is very important to her. Most of the time she is serious and firm with the students but sometimes she will pepper in a few jokes or comments during more tedious tasks to brighten up the mood. There is a clear power distribution in her classes, students are always attentive to her and waiting on her for further instruction, the focus/attention of the class is placed on her. At my school, the classes are loosely grouped based on NECAP scores, so they are still “heterogenous” but there are clearly higher performing classes than other. In the higher performing class, my CT gives a little bit more freedom to these students and “lets loose” with them a little bit more.
I admire the business-like atmosphere my CT has created in her class, especially after working for an afterschool program with the YMCA and in my other practicums, I know how difficult this can be. It definitely minimizes stress on the teacher and helps keep everything organized and on schedule. While this type of student-teacher dynamic works for my CT and has clear organizational benefits, I think my approach to teaching style will be somewhat more relaxed and personal. I feel like when all of the focus is placed on getting through content rather than getting through to students, you might be helping their NECAP scores in the short-term but short-changing their development as successful, happy people in the long term. I also think that fostering more personal relationships with students can only be helpful to their academic performance. If you are able to find out what may be distracting them from school in their personal lives, you are more likely to be able to address that problem and get the student back on track in school. It is very important to me that my students know I care about them as people and not just test scores.
I admire the business-like atmosphere my CT has created in her class, especially after working for an afterschool program with the YMCA and in my other practicums, I know how difficult this can be. It definitely minimizes stress on the teacher and helps keep everything organized and on schedule. While this type of student-teacher dynamic works for my CT and has clear organizational benefits, I think my approach to teaching style will be somewhat more relaxed and personal. I feel like when all of the focus is placed on getting through content rather than getting through to students, you might be helping their NECAP scores in the short-term but short-changing their development as successful, happy people in the long term. I also think that fostering more personal relationships with students can only be helpful to their academic performance. If you are able to find out what may be distracting them from school in their personal lives, you are more likely to be able to address that problem and get the student back on track in school. It is very important to me that my students know I care about them as people and not just test scores.